news
A big thank-you to all of you who entered the John Anthony Signs’ ‘So you think you know your brands’ competition at the Design Week Awards dinner held at the London Hilton on 3rd March 2009. There was plenty of speculation as to the correct answers and 71 people got all 24 correct. Audra Francis from ISG Retail and Leisure was the first correct entry to be drawn out of the hat and she wins a free weekend for two in Paris.
To put you out of your misery, we list all the correct answers below:
1. W H Smith
2. O2
3. Yo Sushi
4. Currys
5. Tesco
6. BHS
7. W H Smith
8. Next
9. Burger King
10. Sub Way
11. Body Shop
12. Lush
13. KFC
14. Ann Summers
15. Vodafone
16. Waterstone’s
17. Abbey
18. Argos
19. Sainsbury’s
20. Boots
21. Barclays
22. Pret A Manger
23. Disney
24. Costa
John Anthony Signs sponsored the ‘Hall of Fame’ for the Awards and the whole team at John Anthony Signs would like to congratulate all those who won an award.
Top car rental company undertake after acquisition
The UK’s top car rental company, Europcar has contracted John Anthony Signs to re-brand it’s UK branches.
The re-branding is being undertaken as a result of Europcar’s acquistion of Vanguard Car Rental Holdings which includes the National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car brands. As David Fagg, John Anthony Signs’ sales director said “The design process was fairly intensive as it had to be completed in a short space of time, however we are used to tight deadlines, and have been able to meet all Europcar’s requests.”
Installation teams from John Anthony Signs are undertaking a programme to replace signs in over 100 offices located across the UK with the new Europcar branded signs. The main project, which will be completed by the end of 2008, involves the design and manufacture of router cut face panels to fit existing sites. To conserve costs and reduce waste, the John Anthony Signs’ installation team are utilising existing back light boxes where possible.
Another successful year for John Anthony Signs
The latest year-end figures for John Anthony Signs demonstrate the company has had another successful year. Turnover has increased by 12.3% from the previous year, whilst the company starts the new financial year with £1.5 million orders on its books.
During the last financial year, seven new members of staff have been employed to cope with demand and alterations to the Rayleigh factory to increase capacity and improve efficiency levels are in progress.David Fagg, Sales Director, said “We have had another successful year and it is very encouraging to have such a high value of orders for the start of our financial year.We continue to push the company forward, focusing on designing and manufacturing signs that stand the test of time,whilst providing innovative signage, and high levels of project management to ensure each project is completed on time and to budget.”
He added, “We have a high number of long-serving members of staff, five have been with us for over 30 years, whilst 11 have served more than 20 years, and 33 of our employees have worked with us for more than 10 years. The energy, dedication and care that our teams put towards each sign combined with the high level of repeat business we receive, is testament to our success.”
Big win for John Anthony Signs
Earlier this year John Anthony Signs won a
prestigious contract to manufacture and install signs
for the re-branding of Ireland’s National Lottery. The contract valued at €1.5m was the subject of intense
competition. John Anthony Signs assisted with the pilot testing
phase and a number of test sites.
Having won the contract John Anthony Signs created and installed signs throughout Ireland.The three month roll-out which was completed in September 2008 involved the manufacture and installation of 3,000 signs in several different styles at nearly 3,000 locations and is part of a countrywide rebranding.To meet the company’s needs and legal requirements John Anthony Signs designed and manufactured a range of special signs which support conservation policies in areas of special amenity.
The project was awarded to John Anthony Signs due to the company’s competitive costs, manufacturing quality, high service levels and a strong implementation strategy.
The Beatles are back in Liverpool!
An 11 metre x 7 metre black and white graphic of the Beatles
dominates the window of HMV’s Liverpool store.The graphic of
John, Paul,George and Ringo was copied from a photograph
taken during the group’s heyday in the 1960’s and features the
'fab four' in their trademark suits and haircuts.
The graphic was created by John Anthony Signs for HMV as it is an iconic symbol of the music industry and being particularly relevant to Liverpool where the band started their domination of the global music scene.The massive graphic is inside the main window of the store and was designed to fit the bend in the window. Installation was undertaken in August 2008 and took a team from John Anthony Signs just two days.
Highcross Shopping Centre
John Anthony Signs has just completed a major £250,000 project at the
Highcross Shopping Centre in Leicester.The signage project was part of a
refurbishment programme to rejuvenate the city’s shopping facilities.High level
letters for the Highcross brand, finger posts, wayfinding, plus store and facilities
directory signage were all undertaken by John Anthony Signs within a tight
two month schedule. Liaison with the local council was also undertaken to
ensure road signage for the centre directed visitors, from across the city, with
the minimum of fuss.
HMV - store of the future
The highly successful John Anthony signage programme for HMV stores
continues as the company bucks the trend in the current depressed
economic climate, opening new stores and refurbishing existing sites to
turn them into ‘the store of the future’. John Anthony Signs is designing,
manufacturing and installing a wide range of window, wall and ceiling
graphics, which are unique to HMV’s brand, and one which has quickly
become a winning format for the music company’s retail stores. New
departmental signs and category signage ensure shoppers can find their
way around the stores’ massive music products with ease, whilst new
external fascia signs ensure the HMV brand dominates the high street.
AK Bank Turkey
The charismaticTurkish city of Istanbul is the latest
destination for signs designed and manufactured
by John Anthony Signs. AKBank is the leading bank inTurkey with over 750 sites across the
country.Working with design company, Interbrand, John Anthony Signs
has developed new branding and signage forAKBank. Signage for
internal and external AutomaticTeller Machines (ATM) internal ‘red’
service walls, displays, LCD screens and even leaflet holders have been
designed by John Anthony Signs for a pilot store.
John Anthony Signs was chosen due to their unrivalled expertise, experience and their ability to‘push the boundaries’ in design and manufacture to create long-lasting signs that ‘stand out from the crowd’.
The Light Switch programme
Reduce your carbon footprint by
replacing existing fluorescent tubes
with energy-saving LEDs. Get a brighter light for your existing signs, reduce energy costs and
at the same time reduce your carbon footprint. John Anthony Signs
has created a unique programme to replace existing fluorescent
tubing in signage, to cost-effective LEDs.
LEDs create a purer light than fluorescent lighting, use up to 80% less energy helping reduce electricity bills and eliminate the need for ongoing maintenance for up to 7-10 years and are more environmentally friendly.
Take advantage of this offer and save ££s.
Shell EcoMarathon 2008
The John Anthony Signs’ sponsored eco-car built by
pupils at Essex-based Belfairs High School came a very
respectable third in the British entries at the 2008 Shell
Eco-marathon Youth Challenge in July 2008. The global event run by Shell Global Solutions aims to discover the
engineers of the future and develop the next-generation vehicles that take
fuel efficiency to new heights.
This was the second year the team entered their John Anthony Signs sponsored car.Named BRAT (Belfairs Really AdvancedTechnology), the car was driven byYear 7 student Billie Leslie who over a distance of 10 miles used only 13 millilitres of fuel,which equals 3,400 miles per gallon. Billy was supported byYear 9 students:Marcus Mitchell,Daniel Bazan and George Harrison.The car,which was designed and built entirely at the school, ran very reliably and the students had a great time throughout the two-day competition.
John Anthony Signs sponsored the Belfairs team in 2007 and again in 2008 as the innovative technology required to design and build the car,matches the breakthrough research and development work undertaken for recent environmentally-friendly signage projects by the company.
John Anthony Signs sponsor DesignWeek Awards
John Anthony Signs is delighted to announce that
the company is sponsoring the ‘Wayfinding and
Environment Graphics’ category of the highly
acclaimed DesignWeek Awards again next year.
The company sponsored the award in 2008 for the first time, and the event
proved so successful that it has signed up to sponsor the event for 2009.
The sponsored category covers signage and other environmental graphics for towns and cities, commercial and cultural buildings or developments and public services such as school and healthcare facilities.The Awards culminate in a spectacular evening in March 2009, which will be attended by over 600 of the UK’s top design professionals.
For more information on the event visit: www.designweekawards.co.uk
Rapid response to launch HSBC Premier
Premier account customers at global banking organisation HSBC can now bank in comfort. John Anthony Signs recently completed a complex and highly involved project to provide signage to HSBC branches hosting new ‘premier facilities’. The programme was part of a re-fit to launch the bank’s premier banking suites, and involved up to 23 different sign types, in 127 branches spread across England, Eire, Jersey and the Isle of Man. John Anthony Signs was also given the task of project managing the entire roll-out, which included liaising with other contractors working in the various locations. This massive task was successfully completed on time and with much praise from HSBC personnel.
Metropolitan Police signage contract secured
John Anthony Signs has just been awarded a prestigious contract to implement a signage programme for 70 sites for the Metropolitan Police. The project incorporates external and internal illuminated and directional signs, as well as a variety of plaques. Due for completion this summer (2007), the project is being undertaken in conjunction with four different building contracting companies and liaison with a second sign supplier contracted by the Metropolitan Police, requiring exacting project management skills from John Anthony Signs. The John Anthony Signs’ team has undergone and passed additional security screening by the Metropolitan Police to ensure total security to the organisation’s buildings and staff.
JAS Jems now ready to hit the next season
JAS Jems, the netball team sponsored by John Anthony Signs, has jumped up a league. The team of has had a very successful season, and following an amazing 47 to 6 goal win against Braintree Town netball team on Monday 14th April 2008, they are now second in their league, prompting a move up to the next league for the 2008/2009 season.
The Chelmsford-based netball team received a brand new co-ordinated kit courtesy of John Anthony Signs in 2007 and have since enjoyed much success. As Emma spokesperson for JAS Jems says “Our new kit is extremely smart and we get a lot of great comments from the other teams in the League, and no doubt a certain level of envy from our opposition. We have become known as the team with the amazingly colourful kit, which is great as the local netball league has 12 leagues each with 10 netball teams, and to stand out from the crowd is fantastic.”
JAS Jems compete in the Chelmsford and District netball league table playing all their games at New Hall School in Chelmsford. The team are looking forward to the summer season which is based more on fun than competition before they start the competitive season in September 2008. Everyone at John Anthony Signs congratulates the team for their great season and wish them every success in the next league.
Re-brand of Virgin Media
John Anthony Signs’ reputation for high quality combined with a proven track record in supplying signage solutions for global companies, won the company a prestigious re-branding contract with Virgin Media recently. Required as a result of the NTL acquisition, the re-branding programme included manufacturing a variety of signs for 56 different sites located throughout the UK. Exterior illuminated light boxes, directional signs and unique internally illuminated LED totems were designed, constructed and installed by John Anthony Signs within a 10 week schedule.
£8000 raised for charity at HMV Football Extravaganza
Staff at John Anthony Signs raised £8,000 for the Nordoff
Robins Music Therapy Charity when they attended the HMV Football Extravaganza recently - an annual fund-raising dinner sponsored and organised by HMV in association with O2. Hosted by football legend Teddy Sherringham, the event took place at The Grosvenor House Hotel in central London, and with the purchase of 12 tickets and some hot bidding during the auction, the John Anthony Signs’ team certainly played an active role in helping raise funds for the charity. The Nordoff Robins Music Therapy charity provides over 30,000 music therapy sessions a year nationwide for children and adults with a wide range of needs.
